‘Morgana O’Reilly The White Lotus’ is now one of the top suggested searches that pops up when you start typing in the Kiwi actor’s name. Morgana – one of our all time favourites – has been cast in the next season. So, what does that mean for her career, life and current mental health?
Morgana O’Reilly is one of the world’s best kept secrets – in Australasia we know just how wonderful she is, thanks to her TV shows here like Mean Mums, Housebound, INSiDE and her incredible stage show Stories About My Body which she has also toured through Australia where she’s already a familiar face thanks to her role on Neighbours. And next week, her new show, a psychological thriller set in Kaikoura called Friends Like Her debuts. But, it’s likely she’s not going to be our little secret for much longer, because in between doing press for the show, she’s flying in and out of Thailand where she is filming the show that had everyone talking last year: The White Lotus.
We had a Zoom with Morgana to see how much she’s allowed to tell us about what it’s like filming Hollywood’s ‘it’ show of the moment, having an existential crisis, giving birth, turning 40 and so much more…
How are you today, Morgana?
I’m good! Do you know what… yes, I am! I’m really good!
Oh good – you look it. Like, either your make-up is insanely good, or you look like you are just glowing?
Thank you babes, but it’s SWEAT!
Haha! Ok, last time we talked I’d just had a baby – you were so kind and gave me lots of advice for mastitis (it worked btw!). But afterwards, Emma from Capsule and I bought tickets with another friend to come see your show, Stories About My Body, and honestly, thank you because it was the best first night out after a baby that I could have wished for.
Oh my god, that is so lovely, thank you so much. And yes, I remember the feelings of going out for the first time after having a baby. I remember the first time I went to the movies again after having Luna… but I went and saw that Nicole Kidman film Lion. Do you know it?
Oh my god, you mean the one set in India, where the little kid gets lost on the train and has to fend for himself? You saw that?!?
[Laughs] Yip, that one. Heeeeavy. I cried so much.
Luckily most of my tears were happy ones at your show. Are you still performing it when you can?
Every now and then. But so now my mission – you will understand this as a parent – I want to try and be as efficient as I can to have as many people see it possible, without actually physically having to go and do it and spend too much time away from my babies. So now I’m trying to make it into a film.
Oh I love that – were you doing some crowdfunding for it?
Yes! We crowdfunded $30,000!
Oh, I hope it all works out! Now, I’m going to get to the reason we’re talking today – your new show Friends Like Her – but first, I have to ask you about the thing I’m dying to ask about. You have been cast in mine – and probably everyone’s?! – fave show, The White Lotus! So, you’ve just recently got back from filming, but you have another lot to go, right?
YES! I was just in Thailand for a month and that’s why I’m so brown! [Laughs] My kids and husband came up halfway through filming, so that was really, really nice, and then I got back last Thursday morning. And then I go back in another two weeks. So, I get to go back and forth a bit – which is nice, that it wasn’t just that month and then the end of it all.
We’re filming in this beautiful hotel. The hotel is like, are you serious?!? I can never stay at a normal hotel again, I’m absolutely ruined. It’s really outrageous.
God, I am dying to ask you about every little detail that’s happening over there, but I know you can’t say anything specific! But, can you tell me how you’re finding the experience or any overall kind of vibe?
Oh, I just think its – is it melodramatic to say it’s transformative? Why am I using that word? It’s transformative because it’s such a huge leap in terms of the weight behind it. The people are amazing – the cast and the crew, they’re fucking phenomenal. But also, they’re no better or worse than what I’m used to here? The tendency is to think that down here we’re less than. You know? But at the same time this is next level.
And then, of course, there’s this interesting other part to it. It’s the brain game of it that has been the most intense, because the crisis of confidence – when it hits in a situation like that, it’s pretty intense.
But thankfully, I’m there and I’m 38 and I’m 17 years deep in a career. Because you just have to be really sure of yourself – and there are times in this when I’m definitely not.
We’re filming in this beautiful hotel. The hotel is like, are you serious?!? I can never stay at a normal hotel again, I’m absolutely ruined. It’s really outrageous.
When are those feelings sneaking in? Is it on set, or when you’re just being a normal person, suddenly going, ‘WTAF, I’m on The White Lotus?!’
I find this idea generally really interesting anyway, which is one of the reasons I love to travel, it’s that if you were taken away from all of your family, friends, colleagues and everyone who knows you – who are you?!
I have a certain amount of street cred in my industry but I don’t there, and that’s not their fault, it’s just because, well, who the fuck am I?
So…I think, WHO AM I? And what the fuck can I bring to the table? Thankfully, it’s only something I’m sure of when I’m on set and I’m in front of the camera.
Well thank god for that! But I know what you mean – particularly comparing it to travel – it can be such a liberating feeling going ‘who am I really?’ but also it can be, well, give you an existential crisis that isn’t so fun.
Exactly! Those thoughts of, where to I end and where does the world begin?
I imagine you have a lot of people saying things like, ‘This is your big break!’ ‘Every actor wants to be on this show!’ ‘This is going to be massive’! I imagine that is a massive mindfuck. Is it?
Yes, it is for a while. Now I think it has settled down a bit. I remember when I first got the news I had the role, I was thinking, ‘Holy shit, it could do this! Or it could do that!’ But then you look at people like Audrey Plaza and the like and how they’re smashing it, but that is years and years of work, just condensed into a couple of sentences of how well everything is going for them. Generally things happen slowly. I’m also by now quite realistic about how this career and industry is all ebbs and flows – there’s no finish lines. We’ll just see what happens.
I have a certain amount of street cred in my industry but I don’t there, and that’s not their fault, it’s just because, well, who the fuck am I?
That’s so pragmatic. Ok, I’m going to shift to your other project that’s streaming on Three now, Friends Like Her. It’s such a wonderful show – it’s dark and twisty with lots of turns.. It also has this great other piece to it, in that it is set in Kaikoura during and after the earthquakes. What was it like, filming there in Kaikoura and reliving those events in that community?
It was really awesome to be shooting there.. It’s just epically cinematic and gorgeous, and then you have this beautiful little town with these lovely people that are nestled into nature. You’d look out at the ocean and there would be dolphins jumping around. It’s ridiculous. Thankfully we shot the actual quake scenes in a studio in Auckland, but getting to shoot on location was terrific and the community there were so wonderful to us.
It’s also a pretty emotionally fraught topic – part of the storyline is your character is carrying a baby for a friend, but early in the series we see she changes her mind about giving over the baby. What were your feelings about being in this show and having this intense surrogacy storyline to confront?
Do you know what, it’s not really until now that the surrogacy part has become the hook of the story. When the storyline was explained to me early on I didn’t think about it too much because it wasn’t the hook of the story, the hook was this friendship and exploring it inside and out because, well, there’s so much to be revealed in this story!
I was also really interested in it, because of this birth scene in it – it’s such a complex sequence. I wanted to try to make that as realistic as possible and really serving her situation as somebody who wasn’t quite ready to let that baby go?
One of my biggest pet peeves is where it’s just a hysterically terrified woman in labour. I think that just adds to the fears women have around birth in general, and I don’t want to ever have anything to do with that!
But this woman isn’t having an easy labour, I think because there is all this subconscious stuff that is coming to the surface.
Oh I thought you nailed those scenes. I did a little internal cheer for you when I watched the scene where you’re in the late stages of labour at the hospital and we come through the doors and see you on your knees on the bed. Like, you weren’t in that classic movie position of being on your back, wailing.
Yes, oh my god, another pet peeve! Anyone who has been pregnant knows you simply cannot lie on your back, it is so uncomfortable! It makes you feel gross and woozy and yeah, I was like, she is going to be on her knees at this point and we really choreographed that whole sequence.
She’s not having an easy time of it – not because birth isn’t easy, but because she knows what is coming next – potentially giving over the baby isn’t easy. I found that so interesting because there are lots of things that can get in the way and then restrict your progression – sometimes you’re waiting for you someone to get there, like you’re subconsciously waiting for your mum to arrive, or you’re not quite sure what your husband is up to.
One of my biggest pet peeves is where it’s just a hysterically terrified woman in labour. I think that just adds to the fears women have around birth in general, and I don’t want to ever have anything to do with that!
Ha, oh I love that as usual we have got back to talking about birth again.
Oh, I love this topic. If another life I think I would love to be a doula or a midwife. Birth is fascinating.
It is interesting! I love following you on social media and I love when you share little nuggets about your interest in birth. One thing I also wanted to tell you was how great it has been to see you using your platform to shine a light on what is happening – still happening – in Gaza. Unfortunately, it can sometimes feel like quite a brave move in an industry like the one you’re in.
Oh, thank you for saying that. I’m glad. I hope this isn’t going to land me in any hot water – I’m not powerful enough to fight the hot water! It’s so fucked up. Although I also sometimes feel like a fraud. Like I’m not doing enough.
I find myself going in this cycle of thinking, this is too heavy, I need a mental break away from seeing this stuff, but then I think, God, who am I if I look away from this and what these children are going through.
I feel like you can’t look at it as though you’re looking away though! It’s about being aware of becoming desensitised to it. You don’t want to become desensitised. Sometimes you need to go away and take a breath so you can come back and fight. You’re no use to anyone if you’re burned out and desensitised! Because I was finding that at the start and seeing all those videos and finding myself going, ‘well, that video wasn’t as bad as the last one’… and then going, but they’re both kids dying! You can’t consume so much that you become desensitized – that’s a dangerous place to find yourself.
Morgana, thank you for that perspective. That is so true and so helpful. Ok, we’re massively over time, so I’m going to finish up by asking you about 2025 – you’re turning 40 next year! How are you feeling about this wonderful milestone? Have you even thought about it?
I mean, I’ve thought about it in the sense of like, what should I do? Because I had a baby a week after my 30th. I was so pregnant, but I wanted to celebrate so I had this event organised, I called it a three hour 30th and it was going to be, yes, for three hours at this pub around the corner from us in Melbourne but I was so unwell I had to call it off. So, I didn’t get to celebrate that milestone. I love a good party! My birthday is in August, so it’s winter. I was thinking I’d hire a bach somewhere, but it’s the worst weather, so I think I’m just going to have a really big party with performances and poetry and dancing and champagne!
Ah-mazing. What a 2025 it could turn out being for you! I wish you all the good things.
And to you! Talk again soon!
